Stadium PA

Its actually too loud so does little to increase the atmoshpere as nobody sings.

Nobody used to sing before they started with this pre-match music/montage on the big screen this season (which is why the players requested the loud music pre match)

People are talking like SMS was Anfield before kick off with 30k saints bang out the songs and chants..when in fact we got one half hearted OWTS before being drowned out by the away fans.

Where does it say that 86 decibels is too loud for an entertainment venue or innapropriate? Also, your monitoring is flawed because anyone talking near you will also add to the volume, a plane flying overhead will do the same. A phone in a noisy environment where people are talking and shouting is a throughly innacurate measure. Sorry to let you know this. A workplace has regulations to wear ear defenders because the noise would be continuous, not for 5 minutes. Different kettle of fish. Do you take your app out at music gigs or the cinema or a pub and tell them to be quiet when any noise exceed this level?

 

As for comments that it drowns out any atmosphere, the email back from the club shows that we (you and I) weren’t making enough as fans. I would suggest that those moaning about the noise levels are among the quietest fans and have contributed to the decline in atmosphere. The atmosphere before matches was reaching all time rubbish levels. Anyway, seems like the club are going to bow down to the 10 people moaning over the 32,000 that don’t.

Sound levels don't work like that.Decibels are a logarithmic measure so a loud noise of over 80dB will not be augmented by soemone shouting or a phone ringing.

How many people have got to complain about the noise being unpleasant before the perpetrators need to turn it down? 80 dB is described as 'unpleasant' and 85 is a lot louder than that. Long term exposure at 85 dB will cause permanent damage.

You shouldn't be so flippant in dismissing complaints about loud noise. By the time you notice that it affects you it will be too late.

Anyway, what on earth is the point of a loud distorted racket drowning out all conversations for ten minutes?

Unfortunately the fans barely sing during the game, never mind before it. It's remarkable how reluctant people are to join in, it's like the idea of singing and getting behind the team offends them.

Despite this, I don't think the music volume should reach the level where because you want to have conversation you end up not going to your seat until a few minutes before kick off.

Nobody used to sing before they started with this pre-match music/montage on the big screen this season (which is why the players requested the loud music pre match)

 

People are talking like SMS was Anfield before kick off with 30k saints bang out the songs and chants..when in fact we got one half hearted OWTS before being drowned out by the away fans.

Its a football match, i dont know what people are expecting.

It appears we have been sent the same email reply , can anyone going to the next home game let us know if the WBA was a one off ? For me it was only the volume that was unbearable and posscould finish a few mins earlier .

Thank you for taking the time to send us your feedback in regards to our PA system.

Firstly we would like to take this opportunity to apologies for the sound levels at our recent home fixture with West Bromwich Albion. It appears the system may have been turned up above appropriate levels and have since been made aware of this issue. We are sorry for any discomfort this may have caused you and fellow supporters.

We have liaised closely with the relevant members of staff and sound engineers and have been assured that levels for our next home fixture with Burnley will be reduced to well within decibel limits.

In regards to the why the PA system has been louder, the honest answer is that both the players and support staff have requested louder music in an increase to build atmosphere in the build up to kick off. Our players and sports psychologists select music designed to ‘pump them up’ and is why the music level is raised in the minutes before the match starting.

For our home fixture with Burnley, what we would ask from all of our loyal and passionate supporters, is that they take every opportunity to chant, sing and cheer our players and help raise the atmosphere, so that our players can rely on the support from the stands as well as the PA system.

Kind Regards

Daniel

Fair reply and well done to the club for that.

Hmm, they've made a reasonable point, so do I go earlier and sing or not trust them and get to my seat at the last minute?!

To be honest, if the away fans sing there is always a response from the Northam, even if many of them are still downstairs at the bar. Against West Brom there wasn't much boinging by the baggies, so no need for any response.

Sound levels don't work like that.Decibels are a logarithmic measure so a loud noise of over 80dB will not be augmented by soemone shouting or a phone ringing.

 

How many people have got to complain about the noise being unpleasant before the perpetrators need to turn it down? 80 dB is described as 'unpleasant' and 85 is a lot louder than that. Long term exposure at 85 dB will cause permanent damage.

 

You shouldn't be so flippant in dismissing complaints about loud noise. By the time you notice that it affects you it will be too late.

 

Anyway, what on earth is the point of a loud distorted racket drowning out all conversations for ten minutes?

If you know sound levels don’t work like that, you’ll know that an iPhone app won’t give you an accurate reading so is not the best method. I may sound flippant, but I like football to be loud, not quiet which is what it has become. Our fans just don’t sing or shout enough. The culture is rubbish at St. Mary’s and plenty of football stadiums in the UK. And this series of posts sums up the fact that the fun police will spoil the effort the club have been trying to make for the players and those who prefer an atmospheric event.

Who knows, maybe our fan base will have a massive change of heart and arrive early, start singing most of the time during a match, make it intimidating for the opposition and make it a loud stadium each week...led by all you moaning folk of course

I do not think that totally artificial creation of "atmosphere" is the answer to improving the team/fan experience and performance on the pitch . It seems a strange situation that a team cannot play football properly unless they face a wall of sound when comming on the pitch. Putting up arches on the pitch and playing EPL theme adds nothing to the fans enjoyment either.

What makes it a good experience for fans is watching positive attractive football where our team out scores the other team however close the match was. Leaving the fans with bleeding ears before the first kick of the ball is not the answer .

EPL seems to be heading toward the American experience where the fans part is to pay out ££££££££ and sit back back while the same show is played out in front of them week on week .

If they are going to have the PA at full blast pre-match then so be it. Turn it up top volume for Saints Are Coming, but perhaps mute it for My Way.

I do not think that totally artificial creation of "atmosphere" is the answer to improving the team/fan experience and performance on the pitch . It seems a strange situation that a team cannot play football properly unless they face a wall of sound when comming on the pitch. Putting up arches on the pitch and playing EPL theme adds nothing to the fans enjoyment either.

What makes it a good experience for fans is watching positive attractive football where our team out scores the other team however close the match was. Leaving the fans with bleeding ears before the first kick of the ball is not the answer .

EPL seems to be heading toward the American experience where the fans part is to pay out ££££££££ and sit back back while the same show is played out in front of them week on week .

I agree.

If you know sound levels don’t work like that, you’ll know that an iPhone app won’t give you an accurate reading so is not the best method. I may sound flippant, but I like football to be loud, not quiet which is what it has become. Our fans just don’t sing or shout enough. The culture is rubbish at St. Mary’s and plenty of football stadiums in the UK. And this series of posts sums up the fact that the fun police will spoil the effort the club have been trying to make for the players and those who prefer an atmospheric event.

 

Who knows, maybe our fan base will have a massive change of heart and arrive early, start singing most of the time during a match, make it intimidating for the opposition and make it a loud stadium each week...led by all you moaning folk of course

You're right. For an objective measurement of the sound levels you'd need a calibrated measurement device. But that's not the point. That racket before the match was loud, distorted and uncomfortable and did nothing to enhance the atmosphere of the game. A large part of the problem is that the PA system is not up to the job and distorts when it is overdriven.

Do you really believe that a bit of loud music makes for an atmospheric event? You'll be asking for an electronic organ next like they have in American ice hockey. From your comments I would assume that you are relatively young and possibly don't have the experience of attending a passionate, exciting game of football. Unfortunately Saints' games have fallen a long way short of that in recent times. We never needed loud music at the Dell.

The test to see if the PA is acceptable is to get a Gordon Strachan voice over on one of the videos on the big screen.

Its actually too loud so does little to increase the atmoshpere as nobody sings.

In the (valid) opinion of most of the people I am near it has helped to boost the atmosphere in the 10mins before kick off.

So has worked exactly as planned.

Maybe the speakers are different volumes in different stands. I know that we in the Kingsland had a diabolical PA system up until last year, when you couldn't hear anything. Now its so loud you can't hear yourself think. I certainly can't hear my next door neighbour when we are shouting at each other while trying to have a conversation. So we stand there, looking at each other, waiting for the music (and **** music it is to boot) to finish so we can have a chat. [And as an aside, I am not sure if the club is trying to keep people out of the stands, but the crap Saints song being played 12 mins before KO works on me]

Maybe the speakers are different volumes in different stands. I know that we in the Kingsland had a diabolical PA system up until last year, when you couldn't hear anything. Now its so loud you can't hear yourself think. I certainly can't hear my next door neighbour when we are shouting at each other while trying to have a conversation. So we stand there, looking at each other, waiting for the music (and **** music it is to boot) to finish so we can have a chat. [And as an aside, I am not sure if the club is trying to keep people out of the stands, but the crap Saints song being played 12 mins before KO works on me]

I think this must be the case.

I agree the atmosphere needs to be improved but yet to see any evidence that blasting out loud music in the build up has made it any better. We have 10 minutes of nobody being able to hear a thing and bellowing at the person next to them to get heard. The music then stops, people briefly clap and chant as players come out before moaning when the first pass is misplaced. One person in our area summed it up when the music stopped playing said 'Thank god that has stopped, now we can have a bit of peace and quiet'. The music doesn't even have any real relevance to the club or fit any chants.The goal montages are excellent, if slightly irritating as it reminds us how few goals we have seen now and always enjoy the Saints Are Coming.

Personally, I would keep the goal montages with a bit quieter music, transition into music that can be chanted along with or made into a chant, Sweet Caroline, Hey Jude.. then Saints are Coming as they come onto pitch.

Talk of players and psychologists wanting loud music.... on the evidence it doesnt work !

well IMHO its too loud when the guy standing next to you has to shout to be heard , not sure how that encourages singing if you can't hear others, also at WBA it was so loud it was so distorted and you couldn't understand the announcement.

Not everyone has 100% hearing and I never realised it was a condition of entry to a football ground that you sang! as has been pointed out the songs bear no relationship to the crowd or encouragement to sing , so why don't they simply pipe out OWTS as a ground crowd recording or RED Army ?

well IMHO its too loud when the guy standing next to you has to shout to be heard , not sure how that encourages singing if you can't hear others, also at WBA it was so loud it was so distorted and you couldn't understand the announcement.

 

Not everyone has 100% hearing and I never realised it was a condition of entry to a football ground that you sang! as has been pointed out the songs bear no relationship to the crowd or encouragement to sing , so why don't they simply pipe out OWTS as a ground crowd recording or RED Army ?

Agree with all of this.

The music was way too quiet on Saturday I thought. Yes you could easily talk to the person stood next to you but certainly didn't help the pre match build up.

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The music was way too quiet on Saturday I thought. Yes you could easily talk to the person stood next to you but certainly didn't help the pre match build up.

Agree. When you say 'talk to the person next to you' - it was that quiet, I was sat in the Kingland and could probably have talked to anybody in the same bloody block.

We have gone from one extreme to the other - there was really very little point in having the whole build up thing as it was so quiet. All a bit 'Sunday afternoonish' I thought. I much preferred the 'play it loud' approach - did nothing for the atmosphere at all. Ohhh and the clappers returned as well - but as the montage music was so quiet I think most stayed stuffed in the seat.

That said, once the game started I thought the Northam sounded pretty good most of the game - well done them.

Strangely, in the family stand it was loud enough to generate a feedback loop over the pitchside interviews. The music itself was at a much more reasonable level though.

Strangely, in the family stand it was loud enough to generate a feedback loop over the pitchside interviews. The music itself was at a much more reasonable level though.

there was feedback in the centre of The Kingsland, bloody loud feedback too, Jimmi Hendrix would have been proud.

Obviously the sound team need to do some more work on this to get the right balance between bleeding ears and inaudibility !

I haven't been this season but I did notice (after a couple of emails moaning) last season the Pa system went from hardly audible to blow your ear drums out ! I guess they are "still calibrating It" ?

Volume level 10 = too loud.

Volume level 5 = too quiet.

hmmm I wonder what level could possibly be about right?

F*ck me, can it really be that hard to sort!

It was the ridiculous to the sublime............Kenzie still probably got a gentle rattle out the glasses in the cocktail cabinets up on Pear Tree Avenue though!

Probably why some folks missed the instructions for the rememberance silence.

Obviously the sound team need to do some more work on this to get the right balance between bleeding ears and inaudibility !

Maybe you can write another letter of complaint...it’s too quiet now Saints. You did as we asked, but now we’ve changed our minds